Girls Basketball: Bailey Greenberg, Gwynedd show no mercy

LOWER GWYNEDD — By Thursday’s game against Nazareth Academy, the Gwynedd Mercy girls’ basketball jerseys had already been through the wash its fair share this season.

The Monarchs continued to iron out all the wrinkles, and at the same time, add a few more to its offense. Never seen on tape before, the Monarchs unleashed a few new plays and wasted no time running away from the Pandas.

The new wrinkle to the offense revolved around forward Bailey Greenberg. The freshman recorded a double-double, with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Greenberg scored eight in the first quarter to help her team start on an 11-0 run and 12 in the third quarter to solidify the 62-37 win.

“We put a new set to get the ball to Bailey,” Monarch coach Tim Kowalski said. “It was something I had in mind and did not want to show early in the year. It has a lot of variations that you did not see tonight. It is great to see her aggressive offensively. She had 23 points and did not even play in the fourth quarter. She is an exciting talent.”

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The Monarchs executed in half court sets and excelled with their fast break offense. Sophomore point guard Emily Sullivan continually brought the ball up the floor and figured out the proper person to feed or which play to run against the Panda’s defense.

“We are a quicker team, so we like to get out on the floor are ware teams down,” Sullivan said. “We all boxed out and that led us to pushing the ball well. We used a few isolation plays for Bailey. She was playing really well, so I tried to get her the ball.”

Sullivan chipped in with eight points and dished out assists all night. Bridget Coleman chipped in with nine points off the bench. The Monarchs (6-7) continue to climb back toward a winning record, and it coincides with cohesiveness between the young group and the growing confidence of the floor general.

“Point guard is what I have played since I was younger,” Sullivan said. “I think we played well as a team. Everyone contributed off the bench and we played aggressive help defense. We had six seniors graduate and this is a different group coming on. Just the small basic things we are getting better at.”

The continuous improvement of the inside presence Greenberg and outside presence of Sullivan has the Monarchs chomping at the bit, ready for an exciting second half of the season. The more at ease the young group gets, the more wrinkles coach can add to the arsenal. They are never will want to take their jerseys off.

“We are starting to hit our stride,” Kowalski said. “We have been practicing better after that rough start and have won five of our last six games. We are making things interesting.”